Shoveling hand truck and the like



Jan. 5, 1937.

Original Filed April 10, 1935 Reissued Jan. 5, 1937 I Re,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SHOVELING HAND TRUCK AND THE LIKE Arthur Charles Gulliver, London, England Original No. 2,026,310, dated December 31, 1935, Serial No. 15,669, April 10, 1935. Application for reissue July 7, 1936, Serial No. 89,414

6 Claims. (01. 37130) This invention relates to hand-trucks, wheel- A, of wheels 3. The upper ends of the strips 2 barrows and the like. are bent inwardly and riveted at 4 to ties 5 and One object of the invention is to provide a the outwardly directed ends of a stirrup 6. The hand-truck or the like comprising a receptacle ties besides their function as such act as mud- 5 which has handles and which is pivotally mounted guards.

towards its front edge on a frame which frame The receptacle 1 is open at its top and forward more rearwardly is mounted on ground wheels end and at a point about one third of its length and extends beyond the back of the receptacle to from the front, and a little higher than its botform a treadle or foot rest, said parts being so tom, is attached to the chassis by pivots bolts arranged that the barrow can be pushed by the 8 located at the outer ends of the limbs of the 10 handles as a shovel, lifted for transport by deangle bar and entering holes in the up-turned pressing the handles and discharged by pushing ends 9 of a strap l0 extending transversely across down the treadle and lifting the handles. the bottom of the receptacle. The receptacle is The frame carrying the pivots or trunnions provided with handles such as ll connected to it comprises the chassis frame of the hand-truck by means of metal bars such as l2 and I3 arranged 15 or the like and the fulcrum therefor comprises at opposite sides of the receptacle and braced the axle or axles carrying the travelling wheels. by a metal cross-bar having rearwardly turned Tre receptacle (or shovel) is provided with rearends such as l4 riveted to the bars l2 and I3. wardly directed handles and is filled by a person The barrow is filled by a user forcing the front pushing a shovel-like or fork-like end of the reedge into the material to be transported and 20 ceptacle into the material to be transported and then depressing the handles II to lift the said then pressing downwardly on the handles to tilt edge upwardly and allow the material to fall the bottom of the receptacle in such a manner towards the rear of the receptacle. that the material, which may be coal, coke, sand, During transport the handles are depressed to garden refuse, and the like, falls towards the rear keep the angle bar substantially horizontal, the 25 of the receptacle. When the material has been weight of the loaded receptacle being taken partly taken to the tipping point the user presses the by the pivots 8 but mainly by the stirrup 6 which rear end of the chassis frame down with a, foot receives the rear end of the said receptacle. and the chassis frame turns about the wheel When the tipp point is reached e us centers, thereby lifting the forward end of the ep ses the real End Of the Chassis frame by 30 receptacle. The user whilst still depressing the treading on t roughened T0019 plate I5 50 as to rear of the chassis frame lifts the handles and cause the frame to turn about the axis of the so discharges the receptacle, the shovel-like nd wheels 3 and lift the front part of the receptacle' remaining out of contact with the ground and Simultaneously with or after this action the user such material as may pile up, owing to the said raises the handles II and the receptacle is dis- 5 ends having been raised, and the truck or the like cha resisting any tendency to movement owing to the Owing to the fact that the user is treading on depressed part of the chassis frame being in conthe back of the chassis frame he can, without fear tact with the ground during the tipping operation. of the barrow moving, exert maximum effort to 40 The invention will now be described with refertip the receptacle since engagement between the 40 ence tothe accompanying drawing. rear of the bar I and the ground holds the bar- Flgure 1 is a side elevation of the present barrow against tendency to move. row in "shoveling" position; In these operations of lifting the loaded recep- Figure 2 illustrates, in side elevation, the said tacle from its shoveling position. to a transportbarrow in tipping position; ing position and in the tipping or unloading 45 Figure 3 is a plan view of the carriage or chassis position a novel leverage action is involved which on which the receptacle is mounted; and makes these operations easily performed with- Figure 4 is a fragmentary view, on an enlarged out strain. This is one of the important features scale, showing a wheel mounting and part of a of the invention and involves a predetermined stirrup. and eifective leverage arrangement between the 50 In the drawing the carriage or chassis comchassis and the receptacle. prises an angle bar I of horse-shoe shape riveted The novel leverage arrangement referred to between the ends of its limbs to two metal strips includes the chassis l which is a lever of the first 2 extending upwardly and downwardly of the said class pivotally mounted or supported substanlimbs and secured at their lower ends to the axles, tially midway of its length upon the wheel axles 55 A which constitute the fulcrum therefor, while as indicated by the dotted lines :c.'c on Fig. 1 of the drawing the receptacle I and its handle fittings is not only a lever of the first class but is of the bent or bell-crank type of lever. This bent lever (receptacle 1 and its handle fittings) has two fulcrum points, namely, on the axles A below the chassis and on the pivots B forwardly of the axles. Furthermore, it will be observed that the receptacle with its handle members II disposed a distance upwardly and rearwardly of the foot pedal part l5 of the chassis has its longer lever arm a disposed rearwardly of the fulcruming axles A, while its shorter lever arm b is disposed forwardly of the fulcruming axles A, thereby augmenting the moment of the power applied to the handles II when the latter are depressed for lifting the loaded receptacle from the ground to its transporting position.

It therefore will be understood that a practical feature of the invention resides in the combination of the two leverages represented by the pivotally mounted chassis l and the pivotally mounted receptacle to provide for ease and power in the lifting of the loaded barrow to its transporting position. In this operation the operator presses his foot downwardly on the foot member l5 of the chassis to communicate a lifting action beneath the forward part of the loaded receptacle through the cross strap l0 and simultaneously the operator presses downwardly upon the handle members II with the result of turning the receptacle on its fulcruming axles or pivots A, thus making it possible for persons of little strength to lift a heavily loaded receptacle to its transporting position. Likewise the combination of levers involved makes it possible to easily and readily tip or dump the barrow or receptacle as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing by merely pressing the rear foot member I5 of the chassis downwardly into engagement with the ground while simultaneously moving the handles ll upwardly and forwardly to rock the receptacle on its forward pivots 8.

The forward edge of the receptacle may be shod or may comprise or be provided with forks or tines according to the nature of the material to be transported and the side walls may terminate in a sharp angle at the forward edge.

What I claim is:

1. A hand-truck designed for the easy shoveling and discharging of material, comprising a U-shaped frame, two ground wheels mounted one wheel adjacent to one limb of said frame and the other wheel adjacent to the other limb, said wheels having a common axis located transversely of said frame, a receptacle, said receptacle being pivotally attached to said frame adjacent to the outer ends of the limbs thereof and having an open front, and a receptacle-supporting element carried by said frame, said element being adapted to take the weight of said receptacle rearwardly of said pivotal attachment, whereby said receptacle and frame can be tilted on said wheels to enable said receptacle to be filled with a shoveling action through said open end, can be oppositely turned on said wheels to raise the forward end of said receptacle during transport, and the rear end of said frame can be depressed to raise said pivotal connection and the rear of said receptacle raised to turn said receptacle on said pivotal connection to discharge the receptacle.

2. A hand-truck comprising a frame, ground wheels supporting the truck intermediate its ends to permit bodily swinging movement of the frame, a receptacle open at its forward end, the receptacle being pivotally connected forward of its longitudinal center to the forward end of the frame, a stirrup secured at its ends to opposite members of said frame and arranged with its yoke parallel to the axis of the ground wheels, said stirrup receiving the rear of said receptacle to take the weight thereof when the receptacle is in the shoveling and transporting position, the rear end of the frame beng downwardly movable to raise the forward end of the receptacle for transport, the receptacle being movable on its pivotal connection with the forward end of the frame for dumping.

3. A hand-truck including ground wheels, a frame bodily swingable with respect to the axis of the ground wheels, an open-ended receptacle, pivot joints, said joints connecting said frame to said receptacle at points in advance of the middle of the receptacle, and means carried by the frame and extending between the ground wheels to underlie and support the receptacle near its rear end in a plane below the axis of the ground wheels, said means being wholly free of connection with the receptacle and supporting same normally to hold said open end thereof foremost, whereby the receptacle whilst'being supported rearwardly of said joints and with its open end foremost can be filled with a shoveling action through said open end, can, together with said frame and still whilst supported by said means, be oppositely turned on said wheels to raise the forward edge of said foremost end during wheeling, and the rear of said frame can be depressed to raise said pivot joints and the rear of said receptacle can be raised to turn said receptacle on said joints to discharge it,

4. A hand-truck comprising a frame, ground wheels supporting the frame intermediate 'its ends to permit bodily swinging movement of the frame, a receptacle open at the forward end, pivotal connections between the frame and the receptacle forwardly of the ground wheels, and

a supporting element to receive and support the receptacle rearwardly of the pivotal connection between the frame and receptacle, the supporting element engaging and supporting the frame on a plane below the, axle of the ground wheels to thereby support the receptacle to normally maintain the lower edge of the open forward end of the receptacle in scraping contact with the ground surface, the rear end of the frame being movable to swing the supporting element and raise the pivotal connection between the frame and receptacle to raise the open forward end of the receptacle above the ground surface, the frame being further movable in the same direction to elevate the pivotal connection between the frame and receptacle to a position to permit dumping movement of the receptacle without contact with the ground surface.

5. A hand-truck of the class described including a tiltable wheeled frame having front and rear depressible portions, and an open front shoveling receptacle provided with a rearwardly extending handle member disposed a distance above the rear portion of the frame, the said receptacle with its handle being in the form of' a bent lever having a fulcruming action at its angle on the wheel axles and also having its forwardly extending part pivotally connected frame.

6. In a hand-truck of the class described including a tiltable wheeled frame having front and rear depressible portions, the rear of which portions is provided with a foot engaging member, and an open front shoveling receptacle provided with a rearwardly extending handle disposed above the rear portion of the wheeled frame, the said receptacle having its forwardly extending part pivotally connected with the front 10 depressible portion of the wheeled frame and having its intermediate portion normally seated within the frame and projecting below the axles of the wheels, the said intermediate portion of the receptacle iulcruming on the wheel axles when the receptacle handle is depressed simultaneously with the depressing of the rear portion of the wheel frame to tilt the loaded truck from the ground to its transporting position.

ARTHUR CHARLES GULLIVER. 

